


Photograph

by Cinderella1181



Series: Faith [5]
Category: British Actor RPF, Real Person Fiction
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-30
Updated: 2015-08-30
Packaged: 2018-04-18 04:12:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4691669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cinderella1181/pseuds/Cinderella1181
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Photograph is worth a million words, and Tobias sees one that changes everything between he and Tom Hiddleston.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Photograph

All it took was one still moment in time. The single frozen moment to crash a person’s world down around them. A single photograph, from a world away. 

Tobias knew he should call him right away. Scream and yell, demand to know the truth. But something deep inside him, something deep in his core, stopped him. He wasn’t exactly sure what it was. There was just simply something that made him not pick up the phone to call, to find out. Something that told him that the reports that others in his life tried to reassure him were untrue, were in fact, very true.

Tobias pulled his coat tighter to around him, walking a little faster towards Mark and Ian’s home. Mark was working there today, which meant that he was working there as well. Honestly, all Tobias wanted to be doing was sitting at home in bed. That seemed a much better plan. 

He reached the door and before he could open it he heard the telltale bark of Bunsen on the other side, and the door swung wide open. Ian smiled at him. “Come in, it’s freezing out this morning, and I have fresh coffee just on,” he said. 

Tobias looked at him, one eyebrow raised, “You saw didn’t you?”

Ian nodded. “There has to be some kind of explanation.”

“There may be, but that doesn’t mean anything. This was exactly what I was afraid of, Ian. And I really don’t want to talk about it. Okay?” He said quietly. “I just want to work, get my things done and then get to class. That is all.”

Ian smiled. “Okay darling, come on, I am just finishing up breakfast too. Do you want anything?” 

Tobias shook his head no, coming in the door. He bent down, giving Bunsen a few good rubs behind the ears before continuing in to the house. He set his bag down and made his way into Mark’s office and sat down at his desk, pulling out the paperwork that he had been working on the day before. 

Mark looked up from his computer, eyebrow raised, but thankfully said nothing to him. Tobias simply nodded his head in acknowledgement and began his day’s tasks. 

Tobias could feel Mark’s eyes on him every once in a while. He could feel the weight of the questions that were unasked in the room. Tobias finally broached the subject, “I haven’t called him and asked him about it. I am not sure I am going to.”

Mark made a sound, somewhere between disapproval and concern. “Why not?”

“I don’t know. It seems like the thing to do,” Tobias replied honestly. 

Mark simply nodded, saying nothing else for a few moments. He finally broke the silence. “Do you think he cheated on you?”

It was Tobias’ turn to be quiet. He shrugged. Not sure how exactly to answer that question. Tobias was sure of his feelings for Tom, he knew what how he felt deep down. He loved him. He loved every single inch of him. And Tom said that he loved him too. That he was in love with Tobias, but since he had been gone things had definitely been different. 

The conversations between them had started out frequent, at least once a day. Then they had slowed to once every other day. Tom assured him it was because filming was so wild with Guillermo. The video chatting was every other day, and then things slowed down after the first month had passed. Their conversations fewer and further between. The ones they did have became shorter and shorter, and then two weeks ago, they simply stopped. Tobias had heard neither hide nor hair of Tom since then. No phone call. No text, nothing. 

And then this morning, the pictures of him, with the unknown leggy brunette he didn’t know were, all over the front page of the paper. Something deep in Tobias knew the answer to the question Mark asked, simply because of the body language in the photograph. Tom had done the exact same thing with him on more than one occasion when they had been out to the pub--knowing full well he was going to go home and be well and truly fucked. He knew that smile. He knew that same arm around his waist. Tobias knew it all. 

Tobias looked at Mark, tears rimming his eyes, nodding slowly. “Yes. I’ve been on the receiving end of that body language. He took her back to the hotel and fucked her.”

Mark sat there a second, leaning back. He stood and came over, sitting down close to Tobias, touching his shoulder. “Look at me.”

Tobias forced himself to look in Mark’s direction. “Yes?” he said, voice trembling with all the emotions that he had been holding back. Emotions that he had been holding back since he had seen the picture that morning. 

Mark looked Tobias squarely in the eyes, his voice calm and sympathetic, “He doesn’t know what he is going to lose over this. You are the best, the brightest and the most genuine person I have ever met outside of Ian. You love with your whole heart. And Tom is a fool--a complete fool, I tell you--if he cannot see that you are worth more than a set of tits and a little bit of ass, something to keep him warm. You don’t need him.” Mark rested his hand on his shoulder, giving it a fatherly squeeze. “I know it doesn’t take the hurt away right now. I certainly know it’s not going to make you not stop by the shops on the way home and pick up every pint of chunky monkey they had and gorge yourself while singing _All by Myself_. I know that isn’t going to happen, but I want you to know that you are worth more than he is giving you credit for.”

Tobias let one corner of his mouth hitch up a little. “Thank you. For that empowering speech. Please, never break up with Ian.”

“Oh god, I would simply die.” Mark laughed a little, “He’d take the dog, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself.”

Tobias laughed a little at that. “You’re a good man.”

“I try to be.” He smiled. “Look, why don’t you not worry about work today, go settle down in the lab and work on your homework and then home for a little solitude. Alright?” 

“Are you sure? I know you wanted this done,” Tobias started. 

“That can wait. Just go.” Mark said pointing at the door. 

Tobias nodded, standing, taking his books out of his bag and heading towards the basement stairs. He made his way in to Mark’s laboratory and settled in the large winged arm chair that he found so comfortable, and simply sat. 

He sat and he thought about what he was going to do with his life, now that all of this was happening. He never thought he was going to have something like this happen. He never thought he was going to have to be the one to be in this position. 

He pulled out his phone, scrolling through the numbers. He found Tom’s and sent a simple text to him: 

_I’ve seen the photographs. We are over._

Tobias closed the messages and slipped the phone in his pocket, his heart shattering.


End file.
